The Beauty in Sleeping
by Deja Know I Been Lookin For Vu
Summary: A Star Wars version of Sleeping Beauty. Luke/Mara. Leia/Han.
1. Birth

******Title: The Beauty in Sleeping  
Author: Deja Vu  
Summary: This is Sleeping Beauty, Star Wars style. SimplyLauro suggested a L/M Sleeping Beauty, but it might not be exactly what you expect. It is a mixture of styles and Sleeping Beauty stories.  
Rating: No language, a _little_ violence.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or Sleeping Beauty, but this story is mine. **

* * *

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, there lived a king and queen. They ruled over an entire planet, but they were very unhappy, for they had no children. They tried the potions of miracle man, were sprinkled with holy water, and used every fertility drug they came across, but still the end of every day was the same: "Oh, if only we had children!"

One day, the wife could take it no longer. She passionately kissed her startled husband goodnight and lay in bed until he fell asleep. Then she slowly rolled over and reached into her bedside table for her trusty blaster. In the dead of night, she strolled through the castle gardens until she came upon a solitary bench. She sat down on the bench and brought her blaster up to her head, but before she could pull the trigger some invisible force yanked it from her grasp.

A small, wizened alien stood looking at her with solemn eyes, her gun in his hands. "Be afraid, you should not," he said to her. "Fulfilled, your wish will be."

And he left, leaving only the blaster behind.

Startled by this encounter, the wife hurried back to her room, where her husband, who awoke suddenly, received her.

The alien's prediction came true, and the queen gave birth to a handsome boy and a beautiful girl, and the king decided to have a great feast in their honor. He invited friends, relatives, and important people from all over the galaxy, all so that he might show off his beautiful Leia and handsome Luke.

Beings of all different species came, bringing all manner of gifts. Many Force users came too, but there was one Force user that the king did not invite, and this, the king was to find, was a great mistake.

The food, prepared by the best chefs in the galaxy, was enjoyed immensely, and afterwards there was a line of people preparing to give gifts to the twin babies.

After King Anakin's friend Mon Mothma (whose Republic stretched across half the galaxy) stepped forward with her gift for the two children and then moved aside, it was the turn of a humanoid in a black cloak.

The humanoid walked forward, then pulled back his hood, revealing a face of decay and eyes of fire. It was the uninvited Force user Palpatine, whose Empire stretched across the half of the galaxy that President Mon Mothma did not preside over.

There was a collective gasp in the room, and then there was silence. Everyone wanted to know what the evil Palpatine would do.

Sneering, Palpatine looked down upon baby Luke and Leia. Leia started crying, and Luke looked up with his wide blue eyes.

"You thought you could get away with not inviting me, Anakin," Palpatine said in a sinister whisper. "You thought you could protect these two children from _me_...But you were wrong. I would take them from you now, but there is some powerful _force_ that prevents me from doing so...But if I cannot have them to train in the ways of the Sith, then I shall use the ways of the Sith to ensure that Death _can_ have them."

Smiling villainously, Emperor Palpatine began quietly chanting in the ancient Sith tongue (and none were able to move and stop him, for the words froze them to the spot), then afterwards he spoke loudly in Basic: "You might be awed by this young girl's beauty now, but before her eighteenth birthday only _I_ shall be able to enjoy it: her beauty shall be carved into lifeless stone, mounted in my room for my eyes alone. And this pitiful boy? If I cannot train him, then he is of no use to me...His fate? He shall be cursed with a love of the stars, but this love will be his doom: though he may ride in speeder bikes, they shall never cure his longing like flying a ship among the stars would. But a ship will be his downfall. It shall crash into the mountainside, and the eternal sleep of Death shall come upon him. This, Anakin, is my gift to you." Cackling, Palpatine departed.

Anakin's wife Padmé began to weep, and the king tried to console her but his heart was heavy. Out from the shadows, where he had been watching, stepped a humanoid in a brown cloak. He pulled the cloak back, and Anakin saw that it was his old friend and mentor, Obi-Wan, and he ran to him.

"I am sorry," Obi-Wan said. "I cannot remove Palpatine's curse, but I can lessen it." He walked over to the twins, who were crying and flailing their tiny fists. He looked down upon them, and they stilled, gazing at him with big solemn eyes.

"Neither child shall die. Instead, when the time comes they shall separately fall into a deep sleep. The evil of the Sith is too great for time to break the curse. Only true love's kiss can break the spell, for evil cannot stand up against love."

"I thank you, friend," Anakin said, but there were tears shining in his eyes. He had always dreamed of taking his future son flying among the stars, but this had been taken away from him. He turned to Padmé, and they held each other and wept.

* * *

King Anakin wanted to prevent disaster from coming to his children, so he forbade any interplanetary trade to take place around the planet's capital (any ships that came into the area surrounding the capital were warned away and then blasted to pieces by high-powered lasers), and he also required that all who sculpted and chiseled (and had similar occupations) were to have tags planted upon them that would enable their location to be identified at any point (for he did not know quite what to make of Palpatine's curse concerning Leia), and they were prohibited from entering the capital. More precautions were taken as the king and queen thought of them.

Yet still both of them feared that these precautions would not be enough.


	2. Sixteenth Birthday

On Luke and Leia's sixteenth birthday, they were feeling rebellious, but they were under guard day and night so it was hard to do anything dangerous.

The two sat down on a bench that night after the birthday festivities and pondered their dilemma. What could they do?

Luke stared up at the stars. "I wish there was a ship nearby that I could fly..." He sighed.

Leia patted his back. She didn't quite understand his obsession with the sky, but she knew that flying was something he really wanted to do.

"Hey, bro, I have an idea," Leia said, perking up. He turned and looked at her. She got close to his ear and whispered so that the nearby bodyguards couldn't hear. "How about we get ride of the guards and sneak into that bar, _Oop's Shiny Dump_. I hear they don't care how old you are, they'll let you in...And I bet there will be smugglers in there with ships...Maybe you can get one of them to let you fly it or something..."

Luke brightened up. "That's a great idea, sis."

* * *

Losing the guards (which included their parents' droids, the slow See-Threepio and Artoo-Detoo) was no problem, it just took a little use of the Force.

Soon, they were in _Oop's Shiny Dump_, a smoke- and drunk-filled dump with fake shiny jewels all over the place.

The pair looked around uneasily, feeling very out of place. How exactly were they going to go about finding a pilot?

"Hey sugar," a voice came from beside Leia and she jumped. She swerved to look at the speaker, a rugged but handsome brown-haired man who was perhaps in his late twenties. "Looking for someone?"

Leia hesitated for a moment before saying, "Depends on who's asking."

The man grinned lopsidedly, "You've got spunk." He turned to Luke. "She belong to you, kid?"

"She's my sister," Luke stated, a bit of an edge in his voice.

The man's grin grew wider. "All right, what are you two kids looking for?"

Leia's eyes narrowed. "I've trained with martial arts teachers from more than ten systems. Do you really want to call us kids again?"

"Quite a bit of spunk," the man commented to himself. A big Wookiee came up from behind him and growled a question. "Just seeing if there's business to be done," the man answered. "This is Chewie," he said, gesturing towards the furred humanoid, "and I'm Solo, Han Solo."

"Well, Solo Han Solo," Leia said, her eyes twinkling mischievously as she saw annoyance spring up on Solo's face, "do you know where we can get access to a ship?"

"Depends on the reason, sweetheart," Solo said, relishing in the expressions of annoyance that passed across the faces of the two siblings.

"My brother wants to fly a ship," Leia said flatly.

"Wait a second, if you think I'm gonna let some wet-behind-the-ears punk fly _my_ ship—"

Leia exclaimed: "So you have a ship!" just as Luke protested: "I am _not_ wet-behind-the-ears!"

Leia turned to look with a 'Stay out of this, I'll take care of it,' expression, and Luke knew when his sister was like that he had to butt out.

She promptly began arguing with Solo to the Wookiee's amusement, and, growing bored, Luke tuned them out. Something he saw in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he turned.

His mouth opened slightly, and he had to consciously close it.

The most beautiful girl he had ever seen was standing before him, gazing at him shyly. She looked to be around his age, and she had gorgeous green eyes and thick, vibrant red-gold hair. She smiled slightly at him before disappearing out the door.

Making a split-second decision, Luke said to his sister, "I'll be back," but she simply waved a hand at him. She was still arguing with Solo.

He followed the girl down some alleyways and then into an old abandoned building and up several flights of stairs, and she stayed several feet ahead of him the entire time. At last they entered a door which led to the building's roof, which had a breathtaking view of the city and the twinkling stars above.

Luke slowed down, taking in the sights for a moment. He turned to the girl, and she spoke, gazing upwards, "The stars are beautiful, aren't they?"

Luke stared at her, unable to help himself. He felt like something was drawing him to her, like this was some dream where his greatest fantasy was coming true. "Very beautiful," he whispered, moving closer to her. He reached out a hand and took some of her hair in it, startling her. She began to draw away, but then she stopped. She looked at him with her mysterious green eyes.

The sixteen-year old male found himself decreasing the distance between them even more, so that their bodies were barely touching.

"I'm Luke. What's your name?"

"M-Mara," the girl answered, then her eyes widened, as if she'd meant to say something else.

Luke bit his lip, feeling a wave of shyness come over him, but he brushed it away. "Do you believe that dreams can come true?"

"Yes," Mara answered after a moment.

"Do you believe in love at first sight?"

"I...I don't know."

They looked into each others' eyes, and Luke leaned down to kiss her, but she jumped back and broke away, stammering, "I love the stars, I love to fly among them..."

The spell broken, Luke concentrated on what she was saying, then realized, "You have a ship?"

* * *

"Is my money not good enough, is _that_ it?" Leia demanded (quietly, so they wouldn't gain the attention of other bar patrons, though she was using the Force to deflect much of their curiosity).

Han Solo rolled his eyes. "Look, sister, this ain't about my money, it's about my ship."

"I think what this is about is your _ego_," Leia scoffed.

Solo moved his face closer to hers so he could look her in the eyes. But that might have been a mistake, for a sudden invisible spark flared up between them. Their heads grew closer as he murmured, "It's about that brother of yours ruining my ship..."

"I'm surprised _you_ haven't wrecked your ship with how big your ego is," muttered Leia as she moved her lips closer to his. Suddenly, she pulled back. "My brother! He left."

And then she was gone, off to look for him.

"Blast," Han Solo said.

Chewbacca whuffed.

* * *

_Luke_, Leia sent out to her twin through the Force. _It's late, we need to go home. _

But I might have found a ship, Luke protested.

_Can we do this during the day sometime? Mom and Dad are gonna be furious with us as it is. _

Oh, all right, Luke returned reluctantly. _I'll meet you in a minute. _

* * *

They got in trouble, all right. But somehow, it was worth it, for Han Solo and Mara made some sort of impression on them, yet there was also an emptiness left in their absence...

Their seventeenth birthday was when everything fell apart.


	3. Sleeping

Leia and Luke snuck out into the city on their seventeenth birthday as they had a year before, tricking the guards and going to _Oop's Shiny Dump_, perhaps in hopes of seeing their lost acquaintances.

The pair saw instead a wizened robed man sitting in a corner booth who gestured to them both. "What is it that you wish?" he asked them.

"For my brother to get to fly a ship," Leia answered, crossing her arms.

"And you? You do not wish for jewels or the like?" the old man asked.

"I want my brother to get to fly a ship," she stated flatly. She narrowed her eyes.

"I have a ship that I can take you to and let your brother fly...For a price, of course."

"Of course," Luke and Leia echoed.

* * *

They went with the old man, young fools as they were, and with the pricks of swift needles they lost consciousness. The old man was Palpatine, and he had Leia frozen in carbonite and placed upon his throne room wall and an unconscious Luke placed aboard a snubfighter programmed to crash into the mountainside of Luke's home planet. Unfortunately for Luke, he awoke just in time to see the ground rushing up towards him, and then he was knocked into unconsciousness, and the first person who came across him could not get him to wake up.

When the king and queen learned of Luke's fate, they rushed to the hospital where he was being taken care of with the knowledge that Leia had also met her terrible fate. They cried out their son's name, but he was in a coma from which he could not be awakened.

After King Anakin realized he could not help his son but that he was lucky to have him nearby, he went to every on-planet smuggler and bounty hunter haven he could find, offering a great reward to any who could bring his daughter to him. But few wanted to personally face Palpatine even for great monetary compensation, and the king was growing desperate. He would go fetch his daughter himself, but Palpatine would know he was coming from lightyears away.

At last, the king caught a man smuggling contraband, and when he discovered the man's identity he was enthralled, for he had heard a lot about him. 'Han Solo' was a name known to many a law authority.

"I hear you are an honorable man, for a smuggler, and I can sense any deceit. Please, go get my daughter, and I shall release you and your first mate Chewbacca and pay you both great wealth." Trembling, Anakin held up a hologram of his daughter. He _had_ to have her back...

Han Solo bit his lip in thought for a moment before he agreed. King Anakin looked at him in surprise, reaching out with the Force, but the smuggler was sincere. Mystified, the king readied him for his departure, insisting that he take with him two lucky droids to aid him.


	4. Frozen

The king and queen did not know what to do. The only way Luke could awaken was by a kiss from his true love, but how could this happen? He'd had no girlfriends, just like Leia'd had no boyfriends. Was it possible they were both secretively in love? Could someone they had never met be in love with them? Or was it too late for love? Were their children doomed?

King Anakin and Queen Padmé allowed Luke no visitors other than themselves. They were too devastated to share their boy with anyone else. Perhaps later they could search for his true love. For now, they wanted to be alone with him and have the body of their daughter back as well.

* * *

Han Solo's ship, the _Millennium Falcon_, though ragged in appearance, was as swift in space as a bird of prey in the sky. Han and Chewbacca (along with the droids Artoo and Threepio) raced across space, urging as much speed from the ship as they could get, as if they were somehow running out of time.

A tractor beam pulled them into the giant space station called the Death Star by Palpatine, and while Chewie and the droids figured out how to deactivate the power beam, Han went searching for Leia.

It was strange, almost as if a mysterious force were guiding him. He knocked out a guard and put on his uniform, then he went through the station, following what seemed to be his instincts. He suddenly stopped at a wall, where he found a secret passageway that led straight into Palpatine's throne room. Luckily, the throneroom was empty, save for a single elevated chair and a giant slab of carbonite.

Swallowing, Solo went to the block of carbonite, staring at the lovely frozen features of Princess Leia.

"A princess," he said, shaking his head. "I really should have known."

He brought up his hands and traced her features lightly with his fingers, marveling at her. What was it about this girl that drew him to her? He wasn't the type to go after some snobby princess—he preferred the wild girls...Didn't he?

And yet...

He felt like he was bound to her, like some invisible force was drawing them together.

What was it with these constant thoughts of some force? He controlled his own destiny!

But he couldn't deny it. Something about this girl appealed to him, something about her spunk, her courage...

Somehow, he knew he loved her.

"Blasted love," he muttered, before, on impulse, he moved closer to the slab of carbonite and kissed her frozen lips.

* * *

A dark figure moved through the dark night, bypassing a few wanderers in the street, then silently entering a building. Somehow the figure managed to stay out of sight of all in the building, stopping before a door.

The door opened, and the figure stepped in.

In the room, a young man lay in a bed, and his two parents were asleep in chairs to his left, their heads resting upon his bed.

The figure moved forward, then pulled back a dark hood.

Mara Jade shook free her red mane from her hood, staring down at Luke Skywalker with glistening green eyes while she did so. She moved closer to him, a vibroblade clenched in her raised hand.

But her hand was trembling, and the closer she got the more she lowered it.

She fell to her knees, staring at his side, trying not to look at his face. She raised the vibroblade above his chest, but then she sighed and retracted it, placing it in her boot and standing.

"I cannot kill you, Luke," she whispered, "not even for my master."

She gazed down at him sadly, wondering why she felt so attached to this boy she hardly knew.

Mara touched Luke's arm lightly, then she moved her hand to his face to brush back some hair that was in his eyes. "You are the love I can never have," she whispered, turning to leave.

But something drew her back, and on impulse, she leaned down and gently kissed him.


	5. Beauty from Sleeping

Han froze in shock as what had been lifeless lips were suddenly kissing him.

After he and Leia pulled back, Leia began to say, "I thought I'd never see you ag—" and then she cut off. "What in space—?"

"There's no time, sweetheart. We have to leave, _now_," Han said quickly, grabbing her by the hand and leading her back to the secret passageway.

* * *

Chewie deactivated the tractor beams, and it wasn't long before they were all in the _Millennium Falcon_ and flying out of the Death Star.

* * *

Mara opened her eyes in startlement. Luke was kissing her back! What in blazes—?

His big blue eyes were staring up at her, and she pulled back hastily, but he reached out for her. "Mara," he murmured, "I wondered if I would ever get to see you again..." Suddenly, he looked confused. "Um, where am I?"

Mara laughed quietly, and on impulse she gave him a peck on the lips. "I'll explain everything."

* * *

The family was reunited, and Han gave up smuggling and Mara broke away from Palpatine. The latter action was especially good, because King Anakin and Queen Padmé took a bunch of their people and, along with the aid of Mon Mothma's Republic, destroyed the Death Star, killing Palpatine, and bringing down the Empire, so that peace and freedom would be restored to the entire galaxy.

Han and Leia had a big formal wedding (Leia insisted), but Luke and Mara, much to Queen Padmé's chagrin, eloped, preferring not to engage in some fancy ceremony.

And they lived happily ever after (except when Han decided to stir up some trouble—once a rogue, always a rogue).

**The End.**


End file.
